Mark of the Multiversal Pretender

Leo was wiping up a table as usual when he suddenly heard gasps and squeals of excitement coming from the entrance of the Noodle shop.

'What's going on?' Leo raised an eyebrow and darted his eyes towards the front entrance, confused by why the customers were making such a commotion.

Dropping the wet towel, on the table, Leo slowly approached the crowd forming on the front entrance.

"Excuse me. Coming through." Slightly pushing the animals away, Leo has finally gotten a good look at the reason why there was a commotion at the front entrance.

'Shit! Am I tripping or are those the Furious Five?' Leo almost choked himself from his saliva upon seeing the familiar five animals in front of him.

"Master Tigress! Please sign my belly!" A pig raising a marker was shouting in exasperation, seemingly trying his best to get Master Tigress's attention to him.

'Geez, what a diehard fan. But I know someone more diehard than that pig.' Leo said to himself while trying to hold his laugh as he imagined Po having multiple autographs of the Furious Five on his butt cheeks.

Knowing Po, he'd definitely do that once given the opportunity. Po is the most diehard fan of the Furious Five after all.

"Have you heard about the Black Panther? We're curious." Tigress suddenly stepped forward and asked in a straightforward manner.

'Really? Not even being covert about it?' Leo's eyes twitched in response upon hearing that the Furious Five actually was here for his secret identity.

"The Black Panther? Ooohh, I heard about him! I'll tell you as long as you sign my belly." Surprisingly, the earlier diehard fan pig raised his hand eagerly like an elementary student.

"Ugh." Tigress covertly rolled her eyes before grabbing the permanent marker and signed her name on the pig's belly.

"Now, tell me what you know." Tigress squinted her eyes at the pig as she spoke, eager to know about the famous Black Panther.

"I heard....he's a panther! And a black one at that!" Due to a slight pause, a tension was gathered including everyone, even Leo himself.

Only to be met with disappointment and slight annoyance when the pig answered.

'Everyone knows that!' The customers, Leo and even the Furious Five yelled inside their minds as the pig hummed happily as he walked out, seemingly as if he weren't feeling the glares directed at him.

'Either he's dumb or he did that on purpose.' Leo said to himself before looking back towards the Furious Five, only to be stunned when he saw them staring at him with Tigress slowly approaching him.

'Oh shit. Did they discover it was me? Surely, the hyenas don't know what I looked like cause J covered my face with Monkey's toy mask that I stole from a nearby street.' Leo spoke as Tigress finally got close to him.

"....Hey there, what would you like to order?" After a few seconds of stare down, Leo cleared his throat before stating the line that he practiced every night.

".....What do you suggest?" Just as Leo was about to ask what was wrong, Tigress spoke and her words stunned not only him but also the rest of the Furious Five.

"Did.....Tigress just ordered something?" Monkey asked with uncertainty.

"You heard it clearly, Monkey." Mantis said, his jaw dropping the same as them.

"Come on guys, maybe Tigress really just came here to eat Noodles? I mean, I heard this noodle shop is the best in the entire Valley of Peace. Well, it is the best since it's the only noodle shop." Viper said before slithering towards the table where Tigress sat.

Meanwhile, the males in the Furious Five simply looked at one another before shrugging their shoulders in unison and followed Viper's trail before eventually sitting next to each other.

"Can I take your order?" Although hesitant, Leo still decided to keep professionalism and do his job.

"Noodles." Tigress said with a monotone voice while her eyes were closed.

"I'll take what she gets." Contrary to Tigress's cold approach, Viper spoke with a happy tone combined with a smile. She's like the exact opposite of Tigress personality wise.

"Me too." Crane said while Monkey chimed in.

"Yeah, I'll take noodles too. It's my favourite."

"Do you guys have uhmmm.....any worms I can eat?" Meanwhile, Mantis tapped his claw-like hands together while speaking before looking around and leaned closer to Leo as he whispered.

"We can hear you, you know?" Monkey exclaimed while holding his laugh. As Mantis's one and only best friend, he always pays attention to him and his well-being. Hence, he also knew almost everything about Mantis.

"Shut your mouth, monkey! You don't know my dilemma, it's hard to not eat your favourite for almost a whole month!" Mantis complained with raised arms.

"Geez, it's just a month, Mantis. You're overreacting. Unlike you, I haven't eaten my favourite for a whole year! I almost forgot what they taste anymore." Viper replied to Mantis's conflict.

"Wait, Viper you have a favourite food? I thought you eat.....well anything that is on the table." Monkey asked with a surprised expression. He's not the only one as Mantis, Crane and even Tigress were stunned by this revelation.

They've been with Viper for almost their entire life, and from what they observed, Viper never likes anything particular when it comes to food as her stomach can handle any food even the gross ones.

"Woah, I....Haven't really talked about my food preferences aren't I? Well, since we're on this topic already, I might as well tell you guys."

"It's....Rodents! Rodents are my favourite food! I always crave for them almost every minute when I was a kid. Too bad Master Shifu forbids me from hunting one. He said that such an act is unbefitting for a Kung Fu Master." Viper said excitedly at first before turning gloomy the last sentence.

Seeing how they were distracted and has totally ignored him, who was awkwardly standing, waiting for their order, Leo had enough and decided to break the sad atmosphere.

"Ehem!"

"Oh! Sorry for my rants." If Viper were to have arms right now, she would definitely scratch the back of her head from embarrassment.

"It's okay.....As a matter of fact, you're in luck as I have just the rodent for you!" Wanting to make a good first impression with the Furious Five, Leo decided to give Viper what she wants.

"Really!" Viper's eyes gleamed in surprise and happiness.

"Of course! Now, please wait here as I prepare your orders." Leo smiled and left, heading towards the kitchen to pass their orders to Mr. Ping.

'Hopefully, Po finishes taking a shit soon. Or else he might miss meeting his idols. As for Viper's order. I remember seeing several rats in the cramped alley in the back. I could catch a few for Viper.' Leo said to himself, while internally laughing at Po's misery if he took his shit too long to the point the Furious Five would finish their meal and leave before he could meet them.

'Instead of laughing at his misery, I should be delaying the order for a bit for him. Don't worry, Po. I got your back.' Finishing those thoughts, Leo then proceeded to look at the pop-up screen in front of him.

[• Sub-Quest #13: The Furious Five has started looking for the Black Panther! Give them a good first impression and most importantly, don't get discovered!

Reward: 2% of Black Panther Template and 5 Gacha Tickets.]

To be honest, Leo was surprised by the reward, after all, it's the first reward he'll get that isn't a decimal. It's an entire 2% of Black Panther's template! Not to mention the 5 Gacha tickets!

Only he knows how hard it is to increase Black Panther's template percentage and get Gacha Tickets. In his eyes, getting Gacha tickets is rarer.

So after seeing this Sub-Quest, Leo vowed himself to his best to make a good impression while hiding his secret identity from them.

***

A few minutes have passed, Leo wiped off the sweat that has accumulated on his forehead after walking back inside the house from the cramped alley.

Two dead rats were hanging from his hands as he was holding their long tails.

'This should be enough.' Leo said to himself before walking outside, ready to meet the Furious Five again and make Viper happy by giving the dead rodents to her.

However, he was stopped in his tracks upon seeing the corpse of Po on the ground, with bubbles forming on his mouth.

"What happened to Po?" Leo quickly panicked and crouched near Po's dead body, placing two of his fingers on Po's neck to sense a pulse.

'Shit no pulse! Is this the butterfly effect? Dammit! I shouldn't have interfered!' Just as Leo was on the verge of getting stressed, he heard Viper's voice which prompted him to look at her.

"Uhm, excuse me, is he your friend? He kinda passed out the moment he walked through that door and saw us. We had Mantis to check on him and he's fine. It's just hard to sense his pulse because of his fat."

Upon hearing Viper's explanation, Leo mentally slapped his forehead.

'Fucking Po! Of everything you could've done when meeting your idols, you really chose to pass out!?'

"Ooh~ is that my order! Thank you so much!" Without hesitation, Viper quickly snatched the two dead rodents from Leo's hand before gulping them both at the same time, her throat expanding very wide just to take them in, much to Leo's shock.

However, this wasn't the reason why Leo was shocked. There's nothing that is shocking from Viper stretching her throat to take two rats in. No, what shocked him was a different one.

'Holy fuck, she's fast!'

|-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_|

.

.

.

[Next Chapter: Ch. 11 - The Great Pretender's Lucky Draw]